Gaming News

Irrational Games, the studio behind BioShock, is shutting down. BioShock creator Ken Levine said today that he plans to move on to smaller, narrative-heavy games that will be released digitally.

While I’m deeply proud of what we’ve accomplished together, my passion has turned to making a different kind of game than we’ve done before.

To meet the challenge ahead, I need to refocus my energy on a smaller team with a flatter structure and a more direct relationship with gamers. In many ways, it will be a return to how we started: a small team making games for the core gaming audience.

— Ken Levine

The final Bioshock: Infinite DLC is about to be released. After that, Mr. Levine wants to go on to make more narrative-driven games.

In time we will announce a new endeavor with a new goal: To make narrative-driven games for the core gamer that are highly replayable. To foster the most direct relationship with our fans possible, we will focus exclusively on content delivered digitally.

When I first contemplated what I wanted to do, it became very clear to me that we were going to need a long period of design. Initially, I thought the only way to build this venture was with a classical startup model, a risk I was prepared to take. But when I talked to Take-Two about the idea, they convinced me that there was no better place to pursue this new chapter than within their walls. After all, they’re the ones who believed in and supported BioShock in the first place.